Introducing: The Wild Maps

Link to the music
This is a project that has been a long time coming. Rachel Vaughan, Anna Su, and I have been playing music together since 2008, and have always shared a deep respect for each others' songs, often swapping them in performances and re-imagining them.

In December of 2011, we finally decided to put the music on tape that we had been performing for years. In a one-day living room session, we recorded most instruments and vocals live with Kris Karlsson on bass and Mike Lindsay on drums. We then built out this framework with overdubbed piano, guitar, trombone (Sean Pawling), and harmonica (Ross Garren).

This project is Anna's and my first attempt at mixing. As much as we could, we used the old gear we have lying around (some of it with questionable functionality): an old DBX 160, an Orban EQ, and a handful of distortion pedals. We had a vauge idea of a sound in mind, and we wanted the freedom to take chances and see the results ourselves, without having someone else tell us what was or wasn't going to work.

You can listen to some samples of the music at www.thewildmaps.com. If you're in the Los Angeles area on August 3rd, please join us for a show at Hotel Cafe. If you're in Chicago September 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, stay tuned for a midwest release show. And you can always pre-order the album at the web address above.

I hope you enjoy the tunes!